Probending - Avatar Universe!
by ToriMc
Summary: My submissions for the Probending event of 2015! These are the ones set in the original Avatar universe, Korra will have a separate story.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey reader, I'm participating in the pro bending event going on at ** forum/Pro-bending-Circuit/164505/ **and this is my submission for Round 2! My story had to be set where there was a different Avatar and my prompts were aqua, Fire Lord Ozai, and the quote "Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better" - Albert Einstein**

* * *

><p>"Now love, just because someone looks nice doesn't mean they actually are. Take the ground we're sitting on." A tiny Prince Zuko nods, trying to wrap his mind around his mother's words. "The grass is nice and soft, right?" He nods enthusiastically. "That's the outside of a person, that's what they show you and what they want you to believe. It's what's underneath that counts though." A very pregnant Lady Ursa grabs a handful of grass and with a quick yank pulls it out, hoping her destruction of the beautiful gardens will be enough to help her son remember this lesson for at least awhile. His eyes go wide and his little hands grasp blades of grass around him and he begins happily yanking them up. Ursa smiles and takes his hands after a moment, "Good, good you see the dirt now, right? That's what people are really made of." She picks up a handful of dirt and lets it sprinkle down between her fingers. "If you want to know what someone is really like, you have to get past the grass and into the dirt, love."<p>

Zuko smiles and digs his hands excitedly into the ground beside him until he stops, confused. A frown adorns his face as he picks up a rock and asks, with all the seriousness his three years gives him, "What about rocks, Mommy?"

"Well, the rocks all the way under the dirt, deep, deep down are like the soul and the little rocks mixed in with all the dirt," She pauses for a moment, stumped by her smart baby boy, "The little rocks are reminders that even if a person's personality might seem to change their soul doesn't and it will always be spread out inside of them. Souls don't change, just like the rocks don't change."

"Ursa, what are you doing?" A cold voice calls out from the terrace. Dread washes over Ursa, he is the last person that she wants here now. Surely she'll get some kind of reprimand - that's the nice word for it - for tearing up the grass next to the turtle-duck pond. Ozai hardly ever comes here though and so she had assumed it would be safe. Obviously she was wrong.

She turns and throws a smile at her oh so loving husband, "Nothing, I was just teaching Zuko some life lessons is all."

"What, like gardening or perhaps skipping straight to making a mess of everything?" Ozai retorts. Zuko turns his head away from them both, looking at the pond. The turtle ducks are swimming peacefully, unaware of the tension outside of their aqua home. Zuko listens silently to the snide comments thrown at his mother wondering why his father says things that only make his mommy cry when she thinks no one is around. His life would be happier if his father weren't around. The mix of anger but mostly sadness reveals itself as a thin layer of ice coating the pond that no one, not even Zuko himself notices. It creeps out over the water, surprising a fish that tries to surface, thinking there might be food. The yelling starts and Zuko tries his best to ignore it, knowing that the less he moves, the less attention he draws to himself, the less likely he is to get hurt. It's not until a baby turtle duck squawks loudly does he look up.

He gasps, not even thinking about his fighting parents at that moment, "What is it!" Zuko cries.

Ursa looks over, then at her son, her heart falling into her stomach. Ozai looks at the pond, then at the boy, a cruel smile forming on his lips. "So," he hisses, "I guess a Water Tribe and and Earth Kingdom brat have already died."

Zuko reaches out to touch the ice but his mother snatches him back, cradling him to her chest. "What is it, Mommy?"

Ursa doesn't answer but instead pulls him closer, tears springing to her eyes. "No Ozai, it might not have been him! It could be anything, maybe a water bender snuck into the palace, maybe-"

"Quiet woman! You should be ecstatic, you gave birth to the Avatar for me. This is the best news of your life! Fire Lord Azulon will be more than pleased with this. Perhaps he'll even make me the next Fire Lord because of it at the very least it'll make it easier to get rid of Iroh!" Ozai's grin grows even more fierce as he fixes his gold eyes on his son who can only tell that something terrible just happened and it has to do with him. "Zuko, you're going to help me take over the world."

Ursa watches her monster of a husband walk away with their crying child and looks down at the ripped up grass by her knees. "Zuko, my child, no matter what is on his outside, know that your father is a cruel and vicious man," she whispers. "Don't ever trust him. No matter what he says or how much he tell you he loves you or is proud of you he's only in it for himself. Remember, Zuko, Ozai always lies."


	2. Chapter 2

Katara's eyebrow twitches and she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Really Aang, when I agreed to one more date I was thinking you'd set up a nice dinner."

Aang shifts anxiously. "Well I was hoping to show you something new, something awesome. Maybe you'll realize how awesome I am again," he mumbles.

Katara sighs and swears. She didn't even want to go on the stupid date in the first place. It's only because he looked so incredibly hurt when she decided to end it that she agreed to this at all. She had been hoping they would talk like adults, she could explain that the spark had never really been there - she'd tried but it never clicked. Obviously that's not what's going to happen tonight.

A woman dressed in Goddess only knows what comes up to them, the fringe on her leather jacket and boots swaying with each step. "Howdy Avatar Aang and Master Katara. If you would be so kind as to follow me to the changing rooms we have your outfits ready." Katara rolls her eyes but the pair follow the woman.

. . .

"Zuko, this is a terrible idea," Mai states without any sting, she's actually excited about this.

He smiles, "Thanks, I know. Are you sure you're ready to do this?"

She looks at him, a small smile flickering across her lips. "I love you, I really do but we both know this isn't working. They want us to get married and we'd both end up bored and miserable if we did that. A nice friendly split will leave all the court gossips harassing you while a nasty breakup will give them enough to talk about that they'll leave you alone."

Zuko sighs, "I wish you weren't right about that."

"Besides," Mai smirks, "We're going on a double date with the Avatar and the water bender you love you so much."

"They're happily together."

Mai raises her eyebrows, "Not from what I heard. Now remember, you 'accidentally' knock over my drink to get this whole thing started." She looks the Fire Lord in the eyes and straightens his collar. "Tomorrow I'll be off to join Ty Lee and you'll be free to look for someone you really love." She pecks him on the cheek, "Drop me a letter in a few years and maybe I'll be able to whip your guards into proper shape."

Zuko smiles at her and they both square their shoulders, setting their faces to disgruntled annoyance before walking out the doors.

. . .

Katara had tried to request pants of some sort but no, the attendant had only smiled and offered her yet another dress so now she feels like her rear is enormous. A bustle is strapped on and the dress falls over it and she swears her butt is the size of the Earth Kingdom. The sheer amount of fabric on it is impressive though with all the ruffles and the bows. The corset is the worst part. Her already small stomach is pinched in, her ribs are being crushed, and her breasts have been pushed up to the point that if she puts her head down her chin rests easily on her cleavage. On top of that her hair has been curled and coifed and somehow _arranged _and she's not even sure at this point that all of the hair on her head is in fact hers.

She's mumbling obscenities under her breath when Aang finds her leaning against the wooden railing outside of the saloon. At the sight of him her swearing only increases. They gave him pants! They gave him pants while she's stuck in this get-up. "You're so lucky," she growls. "You get pants."

Aang smiles, ignoring her tone like he always does. "You look really good!" His eyes keep wandering down to her cleavage before he yanks them back up to her face. "Really nice."

"Mhmm. So what now? We go eat and then call it good?"

"No, actually we're waiting for two more people and then we'll go eat, dance, take a nice moonlit stroll." He's hoping that on top of showing her he can be awesome, he's hoping that the his friend's presence will remind her that this is how things should be. He silently thanks Mai for coming to him with the suggestion of a double date. Zuko and Mai got together at the end of the war, he and Katara got together at the end of the war. They're still together and so he and Katara should be too, she's his forever girl.

"Who else is coming?"

"We are," a deadpan voice states.

Katara whirls around, her bustle almost catching Aang in the groin until he jumps out of the way. Mai stands there - in pants - with her arm looped casually through Zuko's. She has a black fringed top on with cream pants - again with fringe - while Zuko wears a button up shirt, a loose red scarf, a vest and dark pants. An unnecessarily large belt hangs around his hips and an equally unnecessarily large hat tops his head. Katara soaks up the sight. "You two decided to be part of this?"

Zuko shrugs and tugs on the scarf, "Yeah."

"I'm so glad you decided to do this! Come on, let's go eat!" Aang takes Katara by the elbow and opens the saloon door. The two couples are seated at a rustic wooden table near the bar where the bartender serves ale in tankards. A man twangs away on the small stage at the back of the room. A few dozen diners sit nearby, enjoying the break from reality but most are there because of the Fire Lord and the Avatar. Said Avatar smiles excitedly, "This is so cool! Look Katara they even have oil lamps!"

"Sure Aang, cool." She tries hard not to roll her eyes which Zuko catches.

Aang babbles nervously on as a waitress arrives with their food, ordered before the outfit change. "Here ya'll, for the Fire Lord, Lady Mai, and Master Katara, ribs. For Avatar Aang, vegetable soup and a salad. Tell me if ya'll need anything. Enjoy." She sets the meals and drinks down and saunters off, her bustle swaying with each step.

They all dig in. Katara easily tears the meat off with her fingers, getting them sticky with the sauce. Zuko takes a moment before following suit though he tries to keep his fingers clean as much as possible. Mai sneers and pulls a shuriken out, slicing through the meat before picking each piece up with chopsticks. Aang sips his soup, happy that they were willing to add this to the menu.

"So Zuko, how's everything going? We were at Republic City a few days ago and everything was going smoothly, everyone seems to be adjusting well." Katara makes conversation after several moments of silence.

Zuko looks up from the ribs in front of him. "Things are going really well. We were able to take care of the riot in the Northern Islands- it turns out it wasn't directed at me it was actually to an ex-commander that they were angry at. He was an Ozai supporter and had been trying to create an army so he was taken care of. Other than that, we're about to start renovating the infrastructure of the capitol city."

"That sounds great! Are you focusing on the slums? I remember there being a sewage problem last time we were there."

"Yeah, we're completely redoing the sewage system and the roads in the poorer sections. We actually have some earth benders who are are coming in to help."

"Really," Katara exclaims, "That's amazing! I didn't think anyone would want to come."

Aang tries to shift her conversation back to him, "Well we did a lot to help out the view of the Fire Nation. Remember that one village in the Earth Kingdom that we helped with the rat disease? There was a fire bender we got to help us out with that."

"Oh yeah," Katara clenches her jaw and flashes him a very fake smile. She would love to be friends with him but she needs time before she can stand to listen to him without wanting to snap at him. She turns back to Zuko and Mai, opening her mouth to speak when Zuko's elbow runs into Mai's cup, knocking the wine out onto the table. It spills onto her pants and they all freeze, even the surrounding tables pause - watching - before Zuko hurriedly begins apologizing.

"I'm so sorry Mai, I -"

"That's enough!" She stands. "I can't do this anymore! Even Azula treated me better than this and she's psyco!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zuko jumps up. Katara and Aang just watch in surprise.

Mai's voice rises, "You don't have any time for me! We never do anything together, all it is is politics and uprisings. I'm just not made for this! I need more attention than you can give me!"

"Well if you had emotions, if you didn't look like you wanted to kill anyone nearby all the time then I would spend more time with you!"

Mai huffs, "If you weren't so damn stupid then I wouldn't look like I wanted to kill you!"

"At least I don't yawn my way through sex," Zuko roars.

"That's it!" Mai throws her hands up, "I've had enough. It's over Zuko! I'm going away and I'm never coming back. Have a nice life!" She storms out.

"Fine," Zuko shouts at the swinging door before plopping down, staring at his ribs.

It's quiet enough in the saloon to hear a chopstick drop and Katara slowly reaches out her hand. "Zuko?"

"What?" He has to act angry but by Agni is he happy.

"Are you okay?"

"I can't do this right now," He stands back up and walks out, it was getting too hard to hide a smile. Katara gets up to follow him.

"No, Katara, let him go." Aang grabs her hand. Her forehead furrows and right then he knows. She's trying to find a way to say it gently but Aang's fingers fall away from her arm. Tears well up at the corners of his eyes but he tries to smile. "I'll see you around?"

"Yeah Aang, you will. Give it a little time but eventually we can be friends again."

He sighs, "Okay."

. . .

It doesn't take long for Katara to find Zuko, or for the two to explain what happened. She had gone to comfort him, to share her good news and in stead he ended up sharing his good news and listening to hers. She sheds a few tears, mostly for how Aang must feel, and the two end up sitting together watching the moonrise. Their hands don't quite touch but in the coming months the feel of the other's hand in theirs will become the most natural thing to them.

. . .

Author's Notes: this is for Probending round 3 - my prompt was a) Write about your OTP (Zutara) having a double date with your NOTP (Kataang) b)Western c)Azula d)"You're so lucky"

Also to those that were interested in last round's story and where it would go I'm sorry. It was a one-shot for the round, sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

Aang shrugs, "We're in the Swamp. Weirder things have happened I'm sure."

Korra raises an eyebrow at the slowly moving vines and remembers seeing the spirit energy though them before. "I guess." The spirit vines - the swamp vines as Aang calls them - seem to follow their own rules and until they decide it's time for her to go back to her own time there's not much she can do.

"So what, we're just stuck here?" Asami looks around at the mud, not terribly thrilled to have their trip back from vacation circumvented to a swamp - spiritual or not.

"Until we figure out why we're here I doubt it."

Asami smiles politely, "Okay."

"Sorry," Korra leans over, pecking her on the cheek casually. Asami still blushes brightly even though they've done much more in the past two weeks alone in the Spirit World. "So Avatar Aang-"

"Just Aang, and hold on for a moment." Aang stands and walks a short distance away.

Another voice calls out from the brush by Aang. "This kid is going to destroy my bladder, I swear." Master Katara walks out from the trees and both Korra's and Asami's eyes widen. She is beautiful. The Katara of their day and age is old and hunched but it's obvious she was once gorgeous. Now they see the beauty first hand and are in awe. A slight bump in her stomach only adds to her curves and Korra can feel her own heart breaking. This strong woman will someday be so old that she can hardly even leave the Southern Water Tribe. She'll stay in the healing hut during the Civil War. Something will have to change drastically in her and Korra doesn't want to know what it is that begins the dampen the fire in her eyes.

"Korra, Asami, this is my wife Katara." Katara bows and Korra and Asami return the gesture. Meeting Aang was one thing - he's dead in their timeline - but meeting Master Katara is something entirely different. They can't rip their eyes away from her.

"It's wonderful to -" Asami struggles to find the right word. Meet wouldn't be proper would it?

Katara's eyebrows furrow, "Korra, where are you from? You look a little familiar."

"Um, I'm from the Southern Water Tribe. I'm the Avatar."

"Yeah, right. Who are you really?"

"No, she's serious," Aang cuts in. "The swamp did something weird and she really is the Avatar. She's from the future!"

Katara looks from one Avatar to the other and eventually just shrugs. "Fine, whatever." The pregnancy has shortened her temper considerably. "So what are you doing here?"

"No idea. We were heading back from the Spirit World and got plopped here instead. We need to figure out why we're here and then hopefully we'll be able to go home."

"And hopefully time leaves us alone after that too." This is all too weird for Asami to process easily.

"Well you guys try to figure that out, I'm going to make some tea." Katara walks over to the pot hanging over a small fire and Asami joins her.

"May I help?" Honestly she just wants something normal and making tea counts as that.

"Sure, why don't we let the two avatars meditate for awhile. That usually helps Aang."

"Korra too." Apparently said avatars had the same idea. The sit cross-legged facing each other. Aang's arrows glow and the air around Korra shimmers.

"It looks like they're going into the Spirit World." Katara states as she stirs the pot with easy turns of her wrist.

"We were just there."

"Really? Both of you? How were you able to get in?"

"There are portals open in our world that let people and spirits go back and forth."

"Wow. I never thought that something like that would happen."

"It's pretty amazing." Asami pours herbs and spices into the pot. They're both silent for a moment. Katara wants to ask questions but doesn't want to know the answers. Asami isn't sure of what she should say about the future.

Katara settles on safe ground. "You and her huh?"

Asami smiles, a wide blushing grin. "Yeah. I waited three years for her to come back, to heal. Eventually she did and she came back different. I love her even more now, she's stronger and calmer."

"I've noticed that, Avatars especially seem to mellow with age."

Asami laughs, "No, she's not mellow, she just thinks before charging into something now."

The water bender smiles about to say something when Aang's arrows stop glowing and he shouts, "How could you do something like that?"

Korra's eyes snap open and she faces her fuming past life. "It's not like I did it on purpose!"

"The Avatar cycle is sacred, who knows if there'll even be an Avatar after you!"

"I do. Raava told me and besides, I've reconnected! I think that's what the Swamp brought me here to do. I'm reconnected with my past lives now!"

"You should never have been the Avatar! No one who takes the Avatar State as lightly as you do should be the Avatar!" Aang jumps up and storms off.

"I don't take it lightly!" Korra screeches at his retreating back.

"Excuse me," Asami says to Katara and goes to sit with her Avatar. "Hey, what happened?"

"I reconnected with my past lives but then that old geezer found out what happened and tried to blame it all on me! Vaatu was not my fault!"

"I know. He's just probably surprised is all. It's been a long day for everyone."

Korra huffs. "At least I didn't disappear for a hundred years."

Katara levels her gaze on Korra at that until she mutters an apology under her breath. Katara bends tea into three cups and sits down with the two other girls. "My husband can get a little emotional at times. I've learned to let it just blow over. He'll be fine in a little bit."

"Okay. I figure we should patch things up before we try to leave. I think we got what we came here for."

Asami smiles, "Good, you've solved the swamp mystery."

. . .

**author's note. round four of ****pro bending. prompts: leaves, the swamp, mystery.**

**atla character has to interact and get in a fight with an lok character**


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